Madeleine McCann: Robert Murat’s mum is writing a book

MADELEINE McCann: Gerry McCann has called for all the recommendations raised in Lord Leveson’s Report on media standards to be made State sanctioned. He and his wife Kate McCann undoubtedly suffered at the hands of a voracious media. Others also suffered.

James Murray writes about Robert Murat. He’s the man who, like the McCanns, was libelled by the British press.

A MOTHER whose son was wrongly linked to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has hit out at the way he is portrayed in a best-selling book about the mystery.

Oh?

Briton Robert Murat was cleared of any involvement in the case four years ago but Kate McCann’s book Madelaine [sic], about her missing daughter, has brought back painful memories for Jenny Murat, 76.

The book is called Madeleine. Th paperback came out in May 2012. Why is this news now?

Having seen the McCanns’ suffering at the hands of the British press highlighted in last week’s Leveson report, she is anxious to stress her son’s total innocence.

Why? We know he’s innocent. The media has moved on. He got paid out. His name is forever tarnished. But life goes on…

She and Robert had hoped their nightmare would end in 2008 when he won £600,000 damages from British newspapers, but last night at her home on the Algarve, Mrs Murat spoke of how still the “tragedy consumes us, day in, day out”.

Horrible. To be give The Full Murat is the pits. Chris Jeffferies got it. The Murat might become a watchword for being monstered in the press.

The widow and former nurse said: “Kate of all people should know what it is like to be wrongly accused, so how can she be comfortable repeating wrong allegations about my son in her book?”

Eh?

In the book published last summer, Kate wrote: “Two officers talked openly about Robert Murat, who remained an arguido [suspect] and drip-fed us snippets of ‘evidence’ linking him to Madeleine.” However, later in the book she writes: “Nothing we were told by the police indicated Murat took Madeleine or was in any way involved in her abduction.”

That looks a lot like a statement of facts. But Mrs Murat is upset.

Mrs Murat argues: “Surely it would have been wiser not to mention the allegations from the outset if there was ‘nothing relevant’.”

The entire case is full of “nothings relevant”. The child went missing. That is the start, middle and end of the story. Oh, we closure. But we haven’t got it. The police and private detectives have yet to prove what crime if any befell the innocent child.

She feels Robert, too, should have been called to give evidence to the Leveson inquiry. She explained: “Again we were denied an opportunity to put our side of the story. Robert was the subject of a most disgraceful character assassination, yet was not even invited to contribute to the debate. His life has been hugely damaged. This tragedy consumes us, day in, day out…Kate’s book and the resulting publicity did not help. I do feel sympathetic towards the McCanns and obviously wish they could find their daughter. We can’t fathom the hell they must go through but they seem oblivious to the impact all this has had on our lives and the lives of others. We tried our best to help, but have ended being pilloried and abused and still it goes on.”

Might it be an idea to let it go? Move on?

Mrs Murat, now working on her own book about the case, added: “I am sick of all the half-truths and innuendos, so I do want a full and accurate record of the truth. It is important that our story is told.”

Why wait for a book deal? You can write it up online and distribute to the world for free.

Gerry McCann hit out after David Cameron rejected Lord Leveson’s call for a new press law. He said that while he respected the PM he disagreed with his viewpoint.

And we are supposed to think that Cameron is such a bitter, vindictive, mentally negligible pillock that he will now call off the cops because of what the midding child’s dad thinks? Time to recall what Karl Marx said:

“The free press is the ubiquitous vigilant eye of a people’s soul, the embodiment of a people’s faith in itself, the eloquent link that connects the individual with the state and the world, the embodied culture that transforms material struggles into intellectual struggles…”

Lot of people have said lots of things about the press. Gerry McCann is just one of them. Being vicim of libels does not make him any more of an expert on it than Karl Marx – but I know who I’d like David Cameron to pay more heed to.

Kate simply urged Mr Cameron to “embrace the report and act swiftly”. A source close to the McCanns said yesterday: “Kate and Gerry are relying on the Prime Minister to keep the Scotland Yard review, which he ordered, ongoing. The last thing Kate wants is to annoy or upset the PM and does not want there to be any backlash.”

The police review is ongoing. We all hope it gets a result…

Photo: Robert Murat speaks at the Cambridge Union Society debate, ‘This House Believes the Tabloids Do More Harm Than Good.’ Date: 05/03/2009